In total, the state received 554 applications for cultivation facilities, 1,163 for dispensary facilities, 415 for manufacturing facilities, 17 for testing facilities, and 14 for transportation facilities. Only the top-scoring 60 cultivation facilities, 192 dispensary facilities, and 86 medical marijuana-infused manufacturing facilities will be initially licensed for business in Missouri.

“We greatly appreciate the support exemplified by the exceptionally large number of applicants for implementation of Article XIV which will provide medical marijuana to qualified patients and raise funds to serve our veterans,” said Randall Williams, director of DHSS. “However, this resulted in a large number of applications being received in a short window of time and we have determined that all of those who started an application as of 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 19, will be part of the overall pool to be reviewed for licensure.”

The state started accepting applications for medical marijuana cultivation, manufacturing, dispensary, and testing facilities on Aug. 3. The initial deadline was set for 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 17, but it was extended until Aug. 19, at 4:30 p.m.

Following the facility application deadline, DHSS said it received claims from some facility applicants who experienced technical difficulties during the application process and were unable to submit applications due to these difficulties.

The state said each claim was reviewed as a request for a waiver of the facility application deadline. Twenty requests for waivers were denied and 109 waivers were granted — allowing the affected applications to be submitted — by DHSS.

The limited number of licenses in contrast to the expected number of applicants means there will be winners and losers. But it won’t be the state picking and choosing who is awarded a license.

Staff within the medical marijuana division in DHSS will review applications for completeness before sending them out for scoring. Applications must be approved or denied by DHSS within 150 days of the application submission date.

Additional information about the applications received, such as applicant names and facility locations, will be released in the coming weeks.

Stakeholders estimated dispensaries will likely open late spring to early summer of 2020.

Alisha Shurr is a reporter for the Missouri Times and Missouri Times Magazine. She joined the Missouri Times in January 2018 after working as a copy editor for her hometown newspaper in Southern Oregon. Alisha is a graduate of Kansas State University. Contact Alisha at alisha@themissouritimes.com.